Question #1207
A company uses Amazon S3 for its data lake and needs to provide a secure SFTP interface for a partner. The solution must be highly available and require minimal maintenance. Which option meets these requirements?
Use AWS Transfer Family to set up an SFTP server with S3 as the backend storage. This provides a fully managed service with automatic scaling.
Deploy an SFTP server on an EC2 instance in an Auto Scaling group across multiple Availability Zones. Use an Application Load Balancer to distribute traffic and store files in an EFS file system mounted on the instances, which syncs to S3.
Configure Amazon API Gateway to accept SFTP transfers, triggering an AWS Lambda function to process and store the files directly into S3.
Use a third-party SFTP solution from AWS Marketplace hosted on EC2 instances behind a Network Load Balancer, with instances storing files temporarily before transferring to S3.
Explanation
Answer A is correct because AWS Transfer Family is a fully managed service designed to provide secure file transfer protocols (SFTP, FTPS, FTP) with Amazon S3 as the backend storage. It eliminates the need to manage servers, scaling, or availability, meeting the requirements of high availability and minimal maintenance.
Other options are incorrect because:
- B requires managing EC2 instances, Auto Scaling, EFS, and synchronization to S3, increasing complexity and maintenance.
- C is invalid because API Gateway does not support SFTP transfers natively.
- D involves third-party solutions on EC2, which still require maintenance and temporary storage before S3 transfer.
Key Points:
1. AWS Transfer Family is purpose-built for managed SFTP with S3 integration.
2. Managed services reduce operational overhead.
3. High availability is inherent in AWS-managed services.
Answer
The correct answer is: A